Unisphere At Night

I said a few weeks ago that I've been surprised to find myself enjoying the sun setting so early because it means I get to see some of my favorite places at night. I'm definitely not a night owl—my weekday bedtime is usually around 9 or 10pm—so the bulk of my exploring is done in the daylight.

Last weekend my friend JMP was in town and I thought it was time I showed her one of my favorite places in New York, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The park's World's Fair(s) pedigree has always fascinated me, even more so now that I just finished this book. Queens also happened to be the last of the five boroughs that JMP hadn't seen (I'm surprised she got to Staten Island before Queens, even if I was the one who took her there).

We walked around the park a while before heading into the Queens Museum to pay our respects to the Panorama, which is always amazing no matter how many times I see it. The Unisphere also always manages to awe me, no matter how many times I stand underneath it and crane my neck to take in all 12 stories of its curving steel.

I was immensely delighted to find that as the sun set, the Unisphere was lit up like a football stadium—the bright lights making the shiny steel sparkle in the most wonderful way against the dark night sky.

I've already seen the Unisphere in the snow, peeking out from behind the cherry blossoms and with its fountains turned on earlier this year. Pretty much the only iteration I haven't seen yet is with the fountains on and lit up at night, but I'll have to wait until its summer again to check that view off of my list.